emperorpenguin

@Hooves it can get a bit glitchy if you have it downloaded by steam, but then all you need to do is give the correct folder path.

1-Carrack-1000

1-Galley-500

2 hours ago, Hooves said:

I wanna be in a team with someone.

all you need to do is join the kr

 

not too hard

 

max 5 clicks

1-Caravel-500

1-Galley-500

40-Cav Archers- 200

1200 credits total

 

SPHENISCA PROVES DOMINANCE IN J51
Today is a great day for our great nation. After fighting the brave, brave warriors of J51, we have finally defeated them. The honorable men have elected to join our great empire. The battle was recorded by one of our very own scribes. Here's how it went down. 550 Spheniscan Men-at-Arms were sent to J51 in order to colonize another land. Instead, they are faced with thousands of enemies, ranging from soldiers to "corpse -------". The soldiers tactically retreat, realizing they would be better used in the battle to come. A few days later, the battle begun. 1900 Spearmen, 550 men at arms, 200 Longbow retinue, and 20 Horse Archers marched to j51 with limited supplies. The rest is told from our top reporter, Dan Priy:

 

COMICS!

 

 

 

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1glmLJ5iBYXTr7tVKbg41v-v44lx2iGienBC5HR9qzKc/edit?usp=sharing

 

Sports:

The Spheniscan Ballbase League played again this Sunday, with a shocking upset by the Sea Lions! The Sea Lions, a team that only has 2 wins this season, beat the undefeated Cubs! The Cubs coach said this " "t's not going to be an oil painting every night. You cannot be perfect." said Maddon Joe. Fans were not too upset, as their 2 star players are coming back next week. The Cubs are the clear favorite to win the championship so far this season.

 

The Penguins set a new record for runs scored in a game after 3 Grand Slams totaling 18 runs. The previous record was set last week, when the Cubs scored 17 runs against the Otters.

League Scores:
Sea Lions: 2, Cubs: 1

Otters: 5, Sea Horses: 2

Sharks: 5, Penguins: 18

Hawks: 6, Eagles: 7

Sparrows: 5, Finches: 6

 

Standings:

The Knights Radiant:

1. Cubs 18-1

2. Otters 12-7

3. Sharks 6-13

4. Finches 5-14

5. Sea Lions 2-17

 

Voidbringers

1. Penguins 16-3

2. Hawks- 15-4

3. Eagles 13-6

4. Sea Horses: 6-13

5.  Sparrows- 1-18

 

Politics:

With the Midterm elections coming up, the gubernatorial elections seem like a landslide victory for all of the seated governors.

 

 

Monthly Puzzle

Opinion Article: What Makes a Succesful Autocracy

By Solaire Astoria

 

Autocracy (au-toc-ra-cy, aw-tok-ruh-see) is defined as a system of government by one person with absolute power.[1] Modes of government that fall under autocracy include despotism, monarchism and fascism. These governments are defined by their leader, some famous examples include: the first French Empire, the Roman Empire, Nazi Germany and almost all kingdoms in the middle ages. Many of these governments did not have any regard for ethics or human life at all, but many were benevolent and kind to their subjects. Inspiring fear is proven to be a more effective method of gaining loyalty than to be loved, as asserted by Niccolo Machiavelli with his infamous quote “it is better to be feared than to be loved, if you cannot be both”.[2] This concept was put into practice by Vladimir Lenin with his routine massacres and routine torture strikes made Russian citizens live with dread, and to get on the communists’ good side, citizens would act favourably towards them.[3] The same is attributed to Ivan the fearsome and many other notable figures.

An autocratic government’s defining characteristic is that all power is given to one person, or body of people in some cases, but amongst those people there is always a leader of which is given the raw and absolute power to overturn any decision, or flat out make decisions themselves for what they think would be good for what they rule over.[4] There are ‘pillars’ which make an autocracy successful by ‘holding up’ the government, in essence to prevent collapse. In the simplest terms, this basic system of government can be one of the most effective if it follows the principle of these pillars.

The first pillar that creates a successful autocracy is an idea that people can get behind. Ideology is the most important factor, as without an idea there is no movement, and without a movement there will not be an autocracy.[5] The National Socialist German Workers Party convinced the masses that by their rule, they would end poverty and create a utopia from hard work and government oversight.[6] The National Socialist government allocated work including road building and railway work for those without the ability to find work themselves.[7] Due to the social crisis at the time, being mass unemployment, government job allocation for every citizen seemed like a godsend, so the party quickly rose to power.

Which leads to the second pillar – social conditions. Autocratic governments usually if not always have extreme methods to wipe out negative social situations which include unemployment, social injustice, political dissolution and high inflation.[8] These governments tend to tap into patriotism and nationalism, and have charismatic leaders. The reason behind the nationalism is that it’s something all citizens of the country can tap into and relate to, and it creates a proud environment. It’s also a political tactic to tell citizens that other political leaders do not have the country's citizens’ needs at the heart of their policy, choosing instead to do the bidding of the rich and the powerful. Autocratic governments require a strong willed central figure which people can relate to. These strong willed leaders have a large influence in politics and can create the change which the people desire. If an autocratic hopeful is a weak-willed or insecure leader, it inspires nervousness in the populace, which in turn creates unrest and diminishes confidence in the government’s ability – which may end in a reelection.

Which ties into the third pillar – action. Many governments fail – autocratic or not – because they fail to create change in the infrastructure of the body over which they rule.[9] This is where the famous phrase “politicians always make false promises” comes from. Where autocratic governments with strong leaders would create change almost immediately after they gain power, other government types are inconvenienced, sometimes majorly, by attempted power grabs and disharmony amongst the party, the prime example of this is the death of Julius Caesar.[10] Not only that, sometimes the party fails to have a consensus on major issues, and those problems remain unsolved. It is with that that many citizens grow disgruntled with the government. Autocratic governments also have the ability to create a boom in economy, yet also have the ability to create grand disasters, whereas their democratic counterparts are more stable in comparison.[11]An example of this is Chairman Mao’s great famine in China, leaving millions dead.

This directly corresponds to the fourth pillar – unity. A successful autocracy must be unified in a cause, and have the ability to solve major issues without faltering. Any team, whether it be sports, corporations or governments have to have strong chemistry to be able to react quickly whilst also being effective.[12] Unity can also be tied in with the first pillar, ideology, however unity amongst people who share the same ideas can be difficult. Take the Christian religion for example - all followers of Christ believe he is the son of God and that he is holy, however, followers create discord over how each of his teachings are interpreted, and all sects have different methods of worship.[13] The Roman Catholic Church has a similar hierarchy to an autocracy, in that the Pope is the voice of Catholics, and yet even amongst Catholics – let alone other sects – there is some element of disagreement with the Pope.[14] The same is true amongst peoples political opinion, in that every person’s opinion on any issue differs from another’s, including the leaders.

People can create a psychological sense of unity through uniforms.[15] Most uniforms nowadays are a three-piece suit, but a party may have a particular colour with which they identify with – communists are red, Nazis are brown and fascists are black, for example.[16] Unification is paramount within an efficient autocracy, and uniformity helps alleviate some minor visionary problems within a government. Many militaries have a unique section of their uniform that differentiates them from other militaries, such as a coloured beret or a ceremonial blade that is tradition to carry into combat. In the Middle Ages, most armies used steel plate armour, which made it hard to identify friend from foe, so they used banners to identify where a unit is, and many armies had unique sections of armour which could allow soldiers to differentiate each other. These could include a helmet which has a cross visor, or sections of fur or leather in certain spots in the armour.[17]

Earning these uniforms required dedication, training, and most importantly – discipline. Every member on the autocratic hierarchy must have extreme discipline to be able to make hard decisions under pressure at the top, as well as being able to carry orders out with discretion and skill at the bottom. Having an undisciplined government, autocratic or not, is doomed to fail quickly. Having an undisciplined citizenship will allow for the swift collapse of an autocratic government as well.

However, discipline in the general populace is different altogether. Propaganda is used to keep the populace in aligned with the government's goals – if people are taught to think in the same fashion as the government, there wouldn’t be the need for revolt.[18] Propaganda fits in the context of many of the pillars of autocracy including ideology, unity, discipline and control.

Making sure all subjects are disciplined requires control – the sixth pillar. Control is very unique to powerful authoritarian governments.[19] Republics pride themselves on being free, despite not being as efficient as they could be under an autocratic leadership.[20] However, subjects who feel that they lack personal freedom or control may start an uprising, or a total rebellion.[21] Control can mean a variety of things depending on the government in question, however some common traits include an increase in police and police brutality. Citizens often forego civil liberties ‘for the cause’ as a result.[22] Control also includes the abolition of labour unions, suppression of anti-government dogma, and protectionist policy on free trade.[23]  

To understand if citizens want to overthrow the government, surveillance is key, which in essence is the seventh pillar – surveillance.  All successful governments have used spies to gain intelligence about other nations, and have used them to commit espionage and assassinations the world over. Autocratic governments use secret police to spy on their own people, and in the event of an uprising, to neutralise any major conspirators that have an influence over a revolution. Some major secret police forces include the Gestapo (Germany) and the Kremlin Guard Brigade (USSR), or the Cheka (early USSR). These secret police also take on the roles of spies as well, obtaining information about other nations militaries and leaders’ whereabouts, amongst other things.

With the populace under close surveillance at all times, the government now has complete control over the nation's well being. The autocracy is now totally liable for any problem that arises within their state. Maintaining the control of the autocracy is as simple as repeating the previous pillars. Key findings sought to examine the elements of a successful autocracy. These ‘pillars’ in order are:

Ideology – without a movement, there is no support to garner.

Social conditions – an autocracies initial popularity is due to the severity of the social conditions that they seek to eradicate.

Action – swift action creates a sense of positivity amongst the ruling body which increases chances of maintaining power (a given for any government).

Unity (and uniformity) – attempting to unify the ruled populace includes an overhaul of political opinion and dress code.

Discipline – all members of government must be trained and vigilant in order to retain a rational sense of duty, from the top level government all the way to the regular citizens.

Control – government requires an iron grip on the people to maintain their position in government.

Surveillance – to maintain control, an autocracy must weed out potential uprisings or revolutions from their core.

With this structure used by many successful autocracies in the past, it is discernible that any future autocracy would be using these pillars. To a further extent, a successful future autocracy would be maximising the usage of all of these pillars. It has also been proven that autocracies can be a more effective means of government than any other, if it is given the opportunity to do so.

Monument Review: Rome's Aqua Marcia

By Maximus Decimus.

Finally, what you have all been waiting for. A year of research has gone into this!

Aqua Marcia: The Largest Aqueduct

The Roman Aqueducts were some of the most sophisticated objects in the ancient world. Running water, sewage systems, and indoor plumbing this well built wasn’t surpassed until the modern era, showing a testament to these Roman buildings. These aqueducts, which are the most visible pieces of the Roman water system, stand as a paragon of the strength and beauty that is commonly associated with the Roman Empire.

Out of the 11 Aqueducts built, the Aqua Marcia was the largest. It spanned a length of over 91 km, and supplied the majority of water to Rome.

Aqua Marcia was built to supply water to Rome, as stated above. This aqueduct could bring approximately 190,000 m3 of water to Rome. The rmajority of the aqueduct was built underground (most likely for protection from invaders). Sponsored by praetor Quintus Marcius Rex,146 BC is when construction started. It was paid for by the spoils of the Third Punic War, as Rome had just conquered Corinth and Carthage had fallen in that same year. Construction was completed at 144 BC.

The Aqua Marcia, along with all the other aqueducts were built from a combination of stone, brick and a special volcanic cement, known as pozzuolana. The aqueducts were built with the trademark “Roman arch”, a structure that allowed for many things. This arch was the reason that these great structures were made, as it allowed an even weight distribution. Porous and brittle materials could be used as there was little chance of collapse.

For 90 years, the Aqua Appia and the Anio Vetus brought all the water to Rome. However, with the Second Punic Wars, most building projects in Rome had been put on hold. The Aqua Appia and the Anio Vetus had fallen into disrepair. When their was not enough water brought to the cities to fill the public fountain, private owners had their water supplies cut. Many projects had been approved to combat this issue, but Marcus Licinius Crassus would not allow anything to go across his property. Consequently, no new aqueducts were built for 30 years. The first new aqueduct was The Aqua Marcia. It was built from the source, which were a series of springs in the upper Anio valley. These are near the modern day towns of Arsoli and Agosta.

The Aqua Marcia has fared pretty well since the days of Rome. The underground sections are not viewable to the public, but the famous above ground aqueducts definitely are. The damage that they have taken is mostly due to invaders and nature, and very little to do with modern interference.

The Aqua Marcia is a beautiful structure and should be seen by all. This is not only because of its beauty, but also what this aqueduct symbolizes. It symbolizes an advancement in the human race. It originally was built by stone slabs and crude lime-stone mixtures. However, as Roman engineers learned more and more, they were able to create these huge, arching (insert rimshot here) structures. It is also an amazingly useful structure. Unlike the buildings of the Greeks, and even some buildings in Rome, this served a purpose. It carried clean water from hundreds of miles away to a city. It forged valleys, went through mountains, and crossed long plains to get to the city of Rome. It supplied the capital of one of the largest empires known to man, and simply advanced the human race exponentially. And, above all, it looked great while doing it.

 

Language Section:

Mars Est Deus (Latin):

Mā-rs est de-us.  
Mā-rs Rhē-am Sil-vi-am a-mat.  
Rhē-a Sil-vi-a du-ōs fī-li-ōs ha-bet: Rō-mu-lum et Re-mum.  
A-mū-li-us Rhē-am Sil-vi-am vin-cu-līs clau-dit.  
A-mū-li-us Rō-mu-lum et Re-mum in a-quam pō-nit.  Lu-pa ad a-quam am-bu-lat.  
Lu-pa Rō-mu-lum et Re-mum be-ne cū-rat et a-mat.  Rō-mu-lus et Re-mus crēs-cunt.  
Pos-te-ā Rō-mu-lus et Re-mus Rō-mam ae-di-fi-cant.

 

Cuando Era Nino (Spanish):

Cuando yo era un niño, estaba un bebé muy calmo. Cuando yo era un niño, no lloré o hablo mucho. También, yo estaba muy cerca con mi hermana. Mi hermana y yo hablamos (y todavía lo hacen) el uno al otro mucho. No luchamos mucho cuando yo era un niño. Cuando yo era un niño, mi hermana y yo jugaba juegos juntos. Cuando era un niño, iba a Mundo de Disney mucho. Yo iba mas o menos dos tiempos cada años entre de 2004-2010! Mi hermana y yo gustaba el Mundo de Disney mucho. Pero cuando mi hermana tenía trece años, ella decidió que ella no quería ir a Mundo de Disney. Yo decidí que me no quiero ir a Mundo de Disney también, y nuestro familia no iba por muchos años. En su lugar, mi familia fue a muchos otros lugares. Fuimos a Hawai, India, Europa y otros países. Cuando yo era un niño, me encantaba vestirse con trajes divertidos. Me encantaba vestirse como gente de Winnie the Pooh. También, yo gustaba caminaba en parques y jugaba juegos muy divertido. 
 

2 hours ago, Angevin said:

Only one conclusion to draw from this... Emperor Penguin is bang average

Can I get the most average award?

2-Foot Transport Ship-500

10-Healer-150

175-pikeman-350

So how would you guys feel about playing Medieval 2, with the Third Age Total War mod and playing one of the following scenarios.

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Second_Siege_of_Minas_Ithil
http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Osgiliath

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Siege_of_Barad-dûr

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Dagorlad

I just finished the LotR movies so I'm really into the mod.

All spearmen are sent to j25 to I37

"You would do me and my soldiers a great honor if you and your shoulders would join our army," The commander replies. "However, I cannot accept. Instead I offer you this. Take all your dead, and wounded, and bring them back to our Capital. There, they shall get the finest treatment, and your dead shall get a soldier's burial. You may live in Sphenisca on a reserve soldier's pay, or you may join me as we co-command the entire Spheniscan army, or you may be assigned as the governor of this land. As the king, I have the power to do any of this that you wish. What say you, honorable soldier?"

The Battered Spheniscan force, missing their brave commander and mourning their brothers, is sitting in the field. Suddenly, a great commotion is heard. 10 Supply Wagons, filled to the brim with weapons, armor, food, and basic medicine, appear over the horizon. A new commander, straight from the Capital itself is with them. There is hope yet!

Suddenly, a carrier eagle delivers a message:
"Commander, this is your king. If you are able to hold out for 6 hours, I am sending 10 supply wagons filled to the brim with supplies."

The Commander shouts, elated, "Hold the lines men! We may still win this one!"

 

1. HOLD & HOPE. He holds his nerve with the table, trusting that the Enemy will decide to launch an assault,

8 hours ago, Hooves said:

Rome Total War

Medieval 2 Total War

Empire Total War

Napoleon Total War

Shogun 2 Total War

Rome 2 Total War

Attila Total War

Warhammer Total War

 

Yes I have a lot.

 

even though you are a dirty protestant you are now my favorite dirty protestant

11 hours ago, Woot said:

I don't own any on steam, but I can probably play people through a pirate copy if we connect to a fake lan thing like Tuungle.

 

5 hours ago, Rin said:

I used to play TW games with friends. It was hilarious... huge armies of Muslim spearmen getting routed by a handful of armored swordsmen, a losing battle turned around when the winning general is killed by a trebuchet.

 

I can play most of the TW games as long as it isn't something ancient like Medieval TW 1.

 

Medieval 2 might be good or Rome 2, because there's a lot of unit variety and it's old enough that even Woot could buy it for cheap.

 

It's not a bad idea since it's a lot less time consuming than EU4.

 

Medieval 2 is 11 bucks on steam, so it would be cheap or we could do Tuungle. Also, if we do something like Medieval 2 TW, we could mod the shit out of it and make a scenario based on the story line (If we did Third Age, we could redo the battle of Minas Ithil or like Battle of the 5 Armies or smth)

1 hour ago, Rin said:

 

literally opsec

 

boooooooooooooooo

 

oh shit

 

literally operational security

 

i get it

 

that took too long

 

still: boooooooooooooooo

"Halt the Advance! Our weapons are of greater steel, as are our hearts. We shall hold here and protect every man against these uncultured motherfockin' heathen-loving barbarians. We shall form a table formation, with men-at-arms ready to clog any breach. We must protect our archers at all costs, for they are the only advantage we have. Send the horse archers ahead to keep peppering, but give them the orders to make sure no enemy comes within 15 meters of them. Once they run out of ammo, tell them to retreat to the table and join the lines." The Commander calls to every man in his great army, "Many of you will die today, but we shall gain monuments to this day, the day we proved Sphenisca's might. Remember J22!"

"REMEMBER J22!" Almost every man in the army calls out.

5 minutes ago, japan77 said:

Civ V - yes.

Civ V isn't a total war game, but we could try to do something with that

After the great success of the EU4 Multiplayer, I was wondering how many people have Total War and maybe we could make some cool custom scenarios and duke it out. Post in this thread what games you have and if you would be able to play. Thanks.

1 hour ago, NerdDragon said:

 

 

now thats cool!

Now, these heretics will suffer. 1900 Spearmen, 550 Men at arms, 200 longbows, and 20 Horse archers move to engage. At first, only the horse archers run ahead, peppering the common foot guards and light horse with arrows, keeping them engaged but too far away to attack. The 20 horse archers retreat back into an ambush, where 200, then 400, then 600, then 800 arrows are loosed at great speed. Giving no time to regroup, the spearmen and men at arms charge down in a phalanx formation into these uncultured heretics.

 

500 Creds:

 

2-Cog-400

10-Supply Wagons-100

On 12/2/2016 at 5:51 PM, Floating Hippo said:

Lol, you literally put 1 of our best fighters in best fighters. 

and fuck you too

3 hours ago, Priydan said:

"Milord, they be here! We have them now damn their hides' cries an infantryman returning from a scouting party.

 

"Ha, we have them now. We shall hang their corpses from the trees, such a feast for the crows!" exclaims the Spheniscan General.

 

"Milord, Milord!" interrupts another scout from a different ranging party, blood on his brow and a nasty gash to his forearm. "To the East...barbarians...thousands of 'em!"

 

"Speak to me man, how many truly be there?"

 

"At last count, milord, 2000 common foot (militia), 500 Spears and 500 light horse...that's wot we counted afore they found us."

 

Damn it all, thinks the Spheniscan commander, villains on both flanks! To flee or to fight?

"To flee!" The Spheniscan Commander calls out. "We shall get our revenge at a later date!"

Alright, first one to 1k wins. Then this thread stops.

Using my 1500 Creds saved up

1-Military Dock-500

1-Carrack-1000

 

 

Sorry, The King was too busy bathing in gold for the past 2 days

 

"WE NEED MORE LUMBER" The King cries out

j52